Flying in Shadows (The Black Creek Series, Book 2) (14 page)

Running his hand down her sides, he took off the tiny, matching red fabric, and discarded
it somewhere with the scatter of the rest of their things. He pulled her close to
him. She reached and this time he let her pull off the rest of his clothes. They lay
next to each other, flesh to flesh, arms and legs twined. They fit. He knew they would.

He took her mouth with his, mixing lips and tongues together, long and deep. Their
hearts beat madly with nothing between them. He dug his hands into her hair, trying
to get closer, legs twisting, hands groping. He wanted to learn every part of her:
the expectantly firm lines of lean muscle, the soft and the tender. It unraveled him.
Her uncontrolled response to his hands was enough to make him lose himself. When he
reached her, she instantly bolted and sat upright.

Analyzing her cautiously, he caught his breath.

"Andy." She turned toward him, gasping for air. "Something's... happening."

He controlled his breath enough to smile. "That's... supposed to happen."

"Oh." She fell back on the single pillow, looking at the top of the tent. "Okay,"
then turned to him, winded. "Hang on to me."

He touched his lips to her ear. "Always."

She knew it wasn't a declaration. Just one tiny word said in the heat of the moment.
But that word combined with the feel of his warm body against hers, his lips, his
hands—oh, his hands. They sent her into a place she didn't know existed. The intensity
was terrifying and glorious. Awakening and explosive. She would have never wanted
this to happen with anyone else.

He kept his word and hung onto her. It probably was a good thing they were far away
from earshot of any other campsite. Shaking with aftershocks, she experienced a whole
new desperation. "Can it be time now?"

His head fell to her shoulder and he nodded but put up a finger to signal for her
to wait. With wide eyes, she watched.

When she spotted the wrapper, she instinctively asked, "Can I—"

"Not this time," he halfheartedly said again.

The contrast of skin color between them glowed in the lantern-lit night. Alabaster
against bronze. She felt no fear, only need. The weight of him was safety. She was
floating somewhere with Andy to keep her grounded.

Linking fingers with both hands, he stared intently at her. "I won't hurt you." But,
it was he who squeezed fingers, exhaling completely when they joined. He watched with
brows tight.

Understanding, she answered by lifting to him, pulling him in. She kept her eyes on
his, not wanting to miss any part of this. She heard sounds come from him she didn't
recognize.

He let go of her hands and moved to grasp her shoulders. Gently, they moved together.
United.

He buried his face in her hair before releasing. Andy covered her until their breathing
slowed and finally returned to normal. He rolled next to her, pulling her partially
on top of him, skin to skin, damp and lifeless. "Mmm," Andy mumbled and kissed the
top of her head.

She pressed her lips together and smiled without lifting her head from his chest.
"Should I feel this worn out?"

Tucking her hair behind her ear, he didn't answer but whispered, "Amazing. Sleep now,
my Rose."

* * *

Brie stood looking out the window of Andy's room. The nearly finished guesthouse stood
at the edge of their property almost ready for her out-of-town family. She didn't
feel right about them staying in hotels each visit. Duncan was there for the week
to help with the trim. She could hear Nathan down the hall as he rolled James out
of bed for morning swim practice, then headed for John's room next.

She had tons to do that day and was looking forward to every minute of it. Picking
up the laundry basket she'd set down, she opened Andy's closet. He was terrible at
getting his dirty clothes into his hamper. She stood as she decided whether or not
it was worth nagging him about when she glanced at the shelf above his hanging clothes.

She knew it.

Setting the laundry basket down once more, she stood with her legs wide and her hands
resting on the back of her hips, thumbs facing forward. She could see Nathan enter
the doorway from her peripheral vision but she didn't stop staring at the shelf. A
small smile started at the corner of her mouth.

He was leaning against the jamb of the door. "The way the light is angling from the
window around you, I could stand here for quite a while watching you."

He pushed off and walked over, stood behind her and slid his arms around her waist.
Resting his chin on top of her head, Nathan asked, "Anyone in there?"

She covered his hands with one of hers and used her other to point at the top shelf.
"Andy's tent is here."

She felt him shrug. "Rose has a tent," he retorted.

"And his sleeping bag."

He lifted his chin and stepped back. "Whoa."

"Yeah, whoa."

* * *

"Why do I have to putty holes while the woman uses the nail gun?" Duncan grinned as
Brie puttied and wiped the walnut custom trim Nathan scribed to fit snugly along the
walls of the guesthouse. Although she pretended not to hear him, he could see her
smiling widely.

Near them, Nathan set the angle on his miter saw, then meticulously measured and trimmed
off an extra eighth inch from his last cut.

Turning a smirk at Duncan, Brie loaded her nail gun, then politely responded, "I expect
you'll use this house any day now with a nice family of your own."

He stopped and lifted a brow. Holy shit. "Like that's going to happen." Dipping his
finger in the jar for another wad of putty, he lifted a corner of his mouth. "I sure
could have used it in high school, though. What are you going to do when the twins
sneak girls in here during the middle of the night to smoke pot and have orgies?"

He covered his head with his arms as stain rags and gloves came at him in rapid fire.
"All right, all right!" He gut laughed, but when he dared to look, he didn't see her.

"Mom?"

Brie was on the floor with her wrist pressed against her chest.

"Shit! Mom." Terrified, he ran and skidded down next to her. "Dad!"

Brie rolled on her side, grasping her chest, but still craned her head up at him.
"Don't use that language in front of me," she said and worked out a clearly jesting
grin. "Nothing's going to happen to me. Just a cramp. Hell, you'd think I was in my
sixties rather than my forties."

Nathan was eyeing her carefully, asked her a few assessing questions, then held out
his left hand to give her a lift up.

Brie stepped to Duncan and took both his hands in hers. "Duncan. I can have a cramp."

Recognizing his overreaction, he tunneled a hand through his hair. He felt jittery,
like an idiot. "I'm going to get us something to drink. Are you thirsty?" He rotated
his glance through half-opened lids from Nathan to Brie and back.

"I could use a long neck." Nathan looked to Brie.

"Sure." She picked up the discarded nail gun, checking to see if it needed reloading.
"Make it two. Thanks."

Duncan headed for the front door leading to the main house as Nathan walked to her,
taking the gun from her hand. "Next week," he heard him say.

Duncan glanced back and saw Brie rolling her eyes dramatically. "I'm due for a check-up
anyway,
Dad
," she said and kissed him soundly on the mouth.

* * *

Mulch tucked easily around clusters of young hydrangeas and day lilies in the hot
June sun. As much as Rose didn't want to admit it, she did like this job. The exterior
crews on the spec house were finished. The sod was coming in a few days. The only
guys working were the heating/cooling crew and the electricians. She worked alone.
None of the landscaping work at this spot needed more than one person. Another bonus.
Not that she didn't enjoy working with her mom. She was just more introverted than
most. Much more so than Andy, she mused.

Thinking of the many ways they were different unsettled her momentarily as she tucked
mulch closely around delicate stems and leaves. She wanted to work with animals and
conservation. He wanted to work with buildings and bulldoze trees. She knew what she
preferred but was uncertain about her future specifically. He had always known exactly
what he wanted to do and be.

And, she hadn't told him she loved him. Why was that? she wondered. Trying not to
look too deeply into it, she decided it was just never the right time. The night he
declared his love to her? Cliché. While they were making love? She tightened her lips.
No way.

Finally, she admitted to herself it was all a big cop out and gave in to the fact
that she simply wasn't in the same playing field as Andrew Reed. Or in the same universe.
He was Andy. Gorgeous, well spoken, well liked. Gorgeous.

Sitting back on her heels, she sighed as a red truck pulled into the drive. Speak
of the devil.

Andy stepped out of the passenger side, followed by a man that didn't look much older
than him. The man wore stained jeans and possibly hadn't washed his hair in days.
From the driver side, a much older man stepped out. He was fit, clean cut, with a
full head of snow-white hair. She recognized the older guy as one of the masonry subs
Greenberg Construction kept exclusively. She had no idea if the relationship between
her and Andy was hidden to more than just their families and decided to be safe and
just nod in polite greeting, then kept working.

Relief flowed over her when Andy walked right up, winked and introduced her to the
men he was with. Trying her hand at extrovert, she worked up a friendly greeting and
a few short minutes of polite, empty conversation before getting back to her flowers.

Hoping she wasn't completely obvious, she watched Andy's muscles flex as he unloaded
equipment. She tried to get her work done. He was a distraction—a nice distraction.

It didn't take much time before the scruffy one carelessly laid a corner of his scaffolding
right on top of the newly planted hydrangea nearest the drive. As she stood with hackles
rising, she had a moment to realize that the mason work had already been completed
and to wonder what the hell they were even doing there. Her mom specifically waited
until the brickwork and siding were finished so that rude, careless workers such as
scruffy couldn't come along and trash their work.

She picked up the edge of the scaffolding and rotated it to the drive.

"Excuse me, little honey, but I put that there for a reason."

She thought he sounded like he was speaking to a kitten.

"You'll need to step back out of the way now," he continued.

Andy's eyes widened. The palm of his hand wanted to instinctively hit his forehead.
Instead, he waited and let his eyes dart between Rose, who was turning all sorts of
colors, to the rookie, who had already started to put the scaffolding back on the
mulch and flowers.

Without hesitating, Rose lifted the end of the metal frame and pushed it, not too
softly, into the rookie's stomach. "Call me little honey again and you'll eat this.
Ruin one more piece of my work and you'll eat more than the scaffolding."

Chapter 12

The rookie sighed and closed his eyes as if mildly annoyed before walking around and
reaching to take Rose's arm from the edge of the bars.

Andy dug out of the hole he had crawled into long enough to speak up before he reached
them. "Dude, I wouldn't touch her if I—"

Andy nodded as he watched Rose, expectantly, forearm block the rookie's grip with
that lightning speed of hers and grab hold of his wrist, twisting it enough to really
piss him off.

"Why you little bitch." The rookie cradled his arm where she twisted. Wimp.

He knew she could take care of herself. Knew he should feel sorry for the dude just
about then but he struggled not to join her. Didn't matter. The rookie was slow as
hell. He twisted from her grip skillfully enough, but he was actually winding up to
backhand her. She saw it coming so easily, she knocked his arm down and dug her knee
into his nuts before he'd even shifted his weight into the swing.